Apparatus for turning sheets down successively from a tilted pile thereof



May 13, 1952 K. EGGE 2,596,385

APPARATUS FOR TURNING SHEETS DOWN SUCCESSIVELY FROM A TILTED FILE THEREOF Fi1ed Feb. 11, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

May 13, K EGGE APPARATUS FOR TURNING SHEETS DOWN SUCCESSIVELY FROM A TILTED PILE THEREOF 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 11, 1948 Q w 0 & Wm m d r H.| rIIRNlH w & swfi n v MA B May 13, 1952 EGGE 2,596,385

APPARATUS FOR TURN SHEETS DOWN SUCCESSIVELY FROM A TILTED PILE THEREOF Filed Feb. 11, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN VEN TORI Patented May 13, 1952 APPARATUS FOR TURNING SHEETS DOWN SUCCESSIVELY FROM A TILTED PILE THEREOF Klaus Egge, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United States Steel Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 11, 1943, Serial No. 7,686

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to the inspection of sheet material, such as tin-plate, and, in particular, to an improved apparatus facilitating the perform ance of the inspection.

Despite many advances in other stages of manufacture, the inspection of tin-plate is still carried on by the time-honored method of observing the upper surface of the top sheet of a pile, manually turning the sheet and then observing the other side. This is a tedious and time-consuming operation and requires considerable labor. The object of my invention, therefore, is to provide an apparatus whereby inspection is facilitated and the handling of the sheets accomplished mechanically. In a preferred embodiment, I provide means for tilting a pile of tinplate through a substantial angle, less than 90, from its normal vertical position so as to permit inspection of the exposed surface of the top sheet as it lies on the pile. I further provide means for turning the top sheet downwardly about its lower edge as an axis to permit inspection of the other side. i

The apparatus I provide for handling the sheets includes an inclined track and an L-shaped carriage traveling thereon but tiltable about an axis adjacent its vertex to erect position for receiving a pile of sheets standing vertically. This pile-tilting mechanism is also disclosed and claimed in myapplication Serial No. 95,482, filed May 26, 1949 for Apparatus for Tilting a Mass of Material, which is a division hereof. An arm reciprocabletoward and from the pile after it has been tilted downwardly so its axis is parallel to the track, has suction fingers engageable with the top sheet and the travel of the arm is so controlled as to turn the sheet downwardly and then slide the fingers out from under the sheet. Means are provided for applying suction to the fingers intermittently in timed relation to the reciprocation of the arm. A conveyor carries the sheets away successively after they have been inspected. Restraining means adjustably mounted above the pile aid the separation of the top sheet from the remaining sheets. The carriage has power means for advancing it upwardly along the track as sheets are turned downwardly from the pile and carried away individually by the conveyor.

The invention is stalled at the head end of a classifier capable of separating prime sheets, menders and wasters, under the control of an inspector.

A complete understandingof the invention may be obtained from the followingdetailed descripparticularly useful when ina) [8 having a longitudinal slot tion and explanation which refer to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the apparatus. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view;

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the carriage in downturned position with a phantom pile of sheets thereon;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the carriage without a pile thereon, showing an adjustable mounting of the retaining means; and

Figure 4 is a plan of the carriage as projected on the plane of line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the apparatus comprises generally an inclined track to on which an L-shaped carriage ll travels, the carriage being adapted to receive a pile of sheets i2 when tilted to erect position, shown in chain lines in Figure 2. The track is supported on a structural frame l3. The carriage is fabricated of suitable stock and includes a leg Ill having conveyor rolls l4 journaled therein and a leg H at right angles to the leg Il including a plurality of spaced bars and having wheels [5 on both sides at the upper and lower ends adapted to travel on the rails of track Ill. The wheels l5 at the lower end of leg ll are mounted on a shaft i6 extending through the carriage at approximately the intersection of the center lines of the two legs.

The lowermost position of the carriage is determined by fixed bearing post ll, best shown in Figures 3 and 4, having notches in one side adapted to be engaged by shaft l6. Upon such engagement, the carriage is tiltable to erect position, shown in Figure 2 so that the leg H is in position to receive a pile of sheets standing vertically on a pallet l2? Successive piles of sheets may be delivered to the carriag by any convenient means, such as a roller conveyor in alignment with the leg I l when the carriage is in erect position. For tilting the carriage, a crank l8 therein is mounted on a shaft l9 journaled in suitable bearings 19 and having a sector gear 20 thereon. A pinion 2! on the low-speed shaft of a reduction gear 22 meshes with the segment. A motor 23 is coupled to the input shaft of the reduction gear. The torque exerted by the crank I8 is applied to the carriage through a crank pin 24 projecting laterally therefrom and adapted to enter the slot Hi in the crank as the carriage descends the track it until the shaft l6 engages the bearing posts I 7. The latter, of course, hold the shaft in fixed position during tilting of the carriage in either direction.

the carriage. Motive fluid from any convenient source is supplied to the cylinder under the con-'- trol of a manual valve (not shown) to feed the carriage upwardly along the track as the sheets are successively turned down for inspection by means to be described, so that the top'of the pile is more or less constantly maintained in a predetermined position. I

A carry-away conveyor 2! for'disposing of the sheets after they have been turned down from the pile, includes a plurality of belts 28 parallel to the rails of track I0, spaced apart there between and disposed between adjacent bars" of the leg I lb of the carriage. The belts are trained around pulleys 29 journaled in suitablebearings between the rails, pulleys 35 on anidleshaft 3.! and pulleys 32 on a drive shaft 33, the" shafts 3i and 33 being journaled in an extension 13a of the frame [3. The shaft 33 is driven by a metor 34 through a reduction gear 35, a variable speed-reducer 36 and chain-and-sprocket drives 33' and 38. Magnets 39 are mounted between the conveyor belts for holding the Sheets in contact therewith as they pass over the pulleys 30 which form the vertex of the generally triangular path traversed by the belts.

It will be apparent that, when a pile of sheets has been disposed on the carriage in the posi- 7 tion shown in Figure 2, the exposed surface of the top sheet may readily be inspected byan operator standing beside the carriage. For sue-j cessively turning down the sheets of the pile 7 onto the portions of the conveyor belts 28 which extend between the spaced bars forming the leg [lb of the carriage, I provide an arm' lfl 'e xtending laterally over the pile from a guide box ll on the opposite side of the carriage from the operator. The box is fabricated from plate and is mounted on a supporting structure 42. The

spaced sides of the box have cam'slots or tracks 53 therein and the portions of the arm 40 extending through the slots are provided with bearing rollers 33. The slots 43 have the shape of a reverse curve, as clearly shown in Figure 2. The left-hand portion of the curve is a circular arc, while the right-hand portion is substantially straight but continuous therewith and upturned at an angle of 40 or more to the tangent. Suction. fingers es mounted in spaced relation on the arm 56 are adapted to engage the top sheet in the pile and turn it about its lower, edge a as the arm moves from left to right in the slots 43. The shape of the slots, as above described, has the effect first of moving the upper edge of the sheet about the lower edge as an axis past the dead center position and second, when the rollers on the arm enter the upturned right-hand end of the slots, to slide the fingers 45 out from under the upper edge of the sheet and permit it to fall on the conveyor 27. The conveyor is driven continuously and serves to carry away each sheet as it falls thereon.

The arm 43 is reciprocated in the slots 43 by a carriage clears them as it bearings and driven through a chain-andsprocket drive from the output shaft of reduction gear 35. A pitman 48 is pivoted to the crank disc and to the portion of the arm 45 between the side plates of box 4!. In order to assure that the arm 45 is maintained normal to the side blades "ofthe box at all times, telescopic radius rods 49 fixed to a shaft 50 journaled in the side plates of the box are pivoted to the arm just inside the latter. The shaft 50, as shown in Figure 2, is alignment with the lower edge of the top sheet of the pile.

' A single-acting suction cylinder 5| is mountedon the side of the box 4| and has a piston reciprocating therein driven by a chain-andsprocket drive from the shaft 41. The piston serves to apply suction intermittently to the fingers 45 through suitable connections (not shown) including flexible hose. The operation of the piston is so timed relative to the reciprocatiohb'fthe' arm 49 as 'to'exert a strong suction as the arm star s toward the right from its extrine left-hand position. As the arm approaches the right-hand end of "its travel, the pump piston has reached the limit of its working stroke and the fingers 45, therefore, exert no suctibn the sheet as they slide out from under the upper edge thereof.

In order to prevent the suction fingers from tilting m're than one sheet at a time, I provide mantis-smegma 52 overhanging the upper edgsof' the sheets at the top of the pile. These magnets are mounted on brackets secured to a bar 53 extending transversely of the pile from a heets. The slide is carried by the guides 55 on the adjacent side of the box 4 l parallel to the leg lid of the carriage when in its downturned position. The slide is adjustable vertically by means of a screw shaft 56 journaled from brackets 51 on the end of the box and threaded. through a tapped hole in a lug 58 extending laterally from the bar 53. q The magnets are so positioned that the top of the pile l2 on the turns downwardly. Thereafterythe carriage is moved up the track a short distance to bring the upper'edges of the top sheets'under the poles of the magnets.

' It will be evident from the foregoing that, when a pile of s'heets'has been disposed in the position shown "in Figure 2, continuous operation of the crank disc "46 will cause the arm 40 repeatedly to separateand turn down from the pile the top sheet thereof about its lower edge as an axis. As previously stated, the inspector may observe the exposed surface of each sheet as it comes to the top of the "pile and the reverse surface as it is turned down onto the conveyor. The carriage and the pile thereon, of course, are advanced upwardly along the track in as the sheets are turned down and carried away. The apparatus is particularly well-suited for use in conjunction with a classifying line composed of a series of continubus conveyors with deflectors therebetween adapted to be remotely controlled for directing the sheets into successive different piles of prime sheets, menders and wasters, depending on the character of the sheetsa's determined by the inspectors observation. For such installation, pedal switches are preferably provided at the inspector's position for controlling the deflectors in the classifying line.

As will be obvious from the foregoing description andexplanation, the invention provides an apparatus for inspecting tin-plate having numerous advantages over the prior practice. In the first place, the sheets are mechanically handled throughout, thus obviating the manual labor necessary heretofore and permitting more rapid inspection since the limit on the speed of inspection with manual handling is the time required to turn the sheet and not that for observing the two sides thereof which requires but a quick glance. A further advantage is that marking of the sheets, which results from manual handling unless careful precautions are taken, is avoided. In addition, the invention is well-adapted, as stated above, for cooperation with known classifying apparatus which facilitates disposition of off-prime sheets.

Although I have illustrated and described only a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be recognized that changes in the details of construction or procedure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for turning down sheets individually from a tilted pile comprising a guide frame at one side of the pile, an arm extending laterally from said frame on the side thereof next the pile, suction fingers spaced along said arm, means for reciprocating the arm sidewise, and a track in said frame modifying the movement of said arm, said track including an arcuate portion at the end adjacent the pile effective to cause the arm first to move angularly about an axis adjacent the lower edge of the top sheet, said track also including a reversely curved portion beyond said arcuate portion, effective to cause the arm to move away from said axis.

2. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by said reciprocating means including a crank disc and a connecting rod pivoted to the disc and to said arm.

3. Theapparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by a cylinder directly connected to said fingers, a reciprocating piston in said cylinder and means driving the piston at a speed proportional to the frequency of reciprocation of said arm.

4. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by said frame including a plate at one side of the pile, and said track being a slot in said plate.

5. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by said frame including a pair of spaced parallel side plates, said track being congruent slots in said plates.

6. The apparatus defined by claim 1 characterized by extensible radius rods pivoted on said axis and engaging the arm at one side of the pile.

KLAUS; EGGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 963,170 Parker July 5, 1910 1,275,679 Harrold Aug. 13, 1918 1,779,816 Jones et a1 Oct. 28, 1930 1,940,487 Campbell Dec. 19, 1933 1,982,823 Meredith Dec. 4, 1934 2,119,585 Knowlton June 7, 1938 2,278,140 Sieger Mar. '31, 1942 2,402,048 Hyde et a1 June 11, 1946 2,426,569 Stewart Aug. 26, 1947 2,474,141 Chatterton June 21, 1949 

